If Tomorrow Wasn't Such a Long Time
Sorry for the lack of updates. I'm trying to space out my updates on my two fics, once a week and alternating. So this week is If Tomorrow, next week will be White Blank Page. Let me know how you liked this chapter.
As always, read and review! Thank you all for the continued support!
Also: I own nothing in regards to The Walking Dead. All rights belong to the copyright holder.
Chapter 12
The growl of the Triumph echoed through the forest as he rode closer to the rendezvous point, wind tussling his hair about his face. His eyes held fast on the road, but his mind was distracted floating about elsewhere. The inside of Daryl's bottom lip was raw having chewed it incessantly since he'd left the confines of the prison gates. His mind was wandering to Carol and Judith repeatedly and it was starting to drive him crazy. He needed to find them to ease himself out of his fussing and fast. Merle would have told him to stop getting his panties all up in a twist and Daryl knew he was right. He needed to take everything in stride like he always did.
However, Carol's words seemed trapped in his head as they played like a broken record player over and over again. He felt like a fool, a scared fool at that. She had told him things and he had remained silent like that night. They had sought each others comfort in the hours waning before they had anticipated Woodbury to strike. Hell, it had been days before they were assuming the Governor would launch his assault on the Prison. They had neglected the Governor's terms and kept Michonne in their protective custody. She had earned her place in their group and despite the offer of peace, Rick had decided against giving up one of their own. It wasn't like if they had bothered giving up the scowling woman that the Governor would just leave them be. It would be only a matter of time before the Governor would come for them and remove the impending threat that inhabited the prison. Men like that didn't care about the terms they set forth. They knew and felt threats when they saw them and Daryl understood that his group was one to contend with.
Carol's words continued to linger. They bothered him like a mosquito bite that wouldn't stop itching despite how much and how hard he scratched. He huffed in exasperation realizing that his worrying would get him nowhere. He just had to find his calm state. He had to stop focusing on what he couldn't do and worry about what he could, which was steer his bike out of the way of meandering walkers in the road. Not paying attention was something he typically did not do. He was always observant of everything going on around him. Now, his thoughts weren't with him. They were flitting back to Carol's well-being. This could spell a recipe for disaster if he kept up this daydreaming. He swerved out of the way, leaning his body into the dip, and around the walker with no real effort, straightening up and continuing his way on down the dusty road.
He was getting closer. He could feel it in his bones how close he was to making it to the dilapidated stone walls they had hunkered down in their night after the farm. He was maybe fifteen more minutes away and he would have Carol and Judith on their way back to the prison. The thought made his chest swell with a sense of pride, but it was short-lived when he thought longer about the situation that he had thrust them all into. He swallowed the lump in his throat wondering if he had done the right thing in that moment, made the right call in those seconds when Woodbury was busting through their doors.
Daryl was internally beating himself up again having only packed enough rations for a few days at most for Carol and as much as he could figure a baby would need for Judith. That was a whole other territory for him and he had no clue as to the frequency of a baby's feed times and the amount they ate. It was a whole other monster he had no part of. He had only taken to Judith the day she had been born because no one else had the sense to do it. They were all still so fragile from the events of the day that none of them had it in them to do much of anything but mourn their dead and wonder what they were to do next. Rick had swiped up his axe and machete and had plowed into the herd of walkers that lingered in the depths of the Prison letting loose his burning rage over Lori's death.
Nope, not him though. Daryl couldn't just let them give up so easily. That wasn't him. If there was a way to make it, he would find one and he would make it happen, no matter the cost. He was a fighter and giving up wasn't something he knew how to do.
Stubbornness. He had picked that up quickly from Merle. He may not have appreciated the way Merle had tried raising him, but being stubborn was one thing he knew best of all and learned the fastest from his big brother. It made it hard for him to willingly back down from anything and this group needed that now. There could be no more tip-toeing or any other Mickey-mouse bullshit excuses for allowing things to carry on as they were.
He could see the bend at the end of the road where their car trail had come to a sudden stop that day. His jaw clenched and could feel the muscles in his neck go taut at this sight coming more into view. A queasy feeling was crawling through his stomach as he began down-shifting, slowly creeping to a stop just at the bend in the road. He let go of the clutch and throttle, turning the bike off with the flick of his wrist. With a sweep of his leg, Daryl threw the kick-stand up and rest the bike, swinging his leg over the seat to stand. He pulled his gloves off, tucking them into his back pocket as his eyes surveyed the area, ears taking in the sounds or lack of.
Daryl could hear nothing. There were no distant birds singing, nor the sound of insects chittering. Everything was quiet. He could feel his breathing pick up, nervousness beginning to set in. He carefully removed his crossbow from the back of his bike, drawing the string back and loaded a bolt, pulling it to his shoulder as he began to stalk towards the wall. He took cautious steps as he moved forward, trying to keep the crunching sound of leaves to a bare minimum.
Daryl's eyes roved over the ground taking note of the trails that moved in and around the stone walls. There had been recent activity, several sets of footprints leading to and from the forest. He nodded his head as he turned the corner to a walker, its face smashed against the wall. Brain matter was strewn about the leaves and broken twigs as he knelt down trying to get an indication of how recent the kill was. His fingers rubbed over some of the gore, its slippery cool texture mushing up in his hands. He flicked his hand down, ridding his fingers of the gack, a sense of urgency crawling into the pit of his stomach. That was when he caught sight of the large foot tracks that were entering into the enclosure. He got to his feet, drawing his crossbow to his shoulder again.
"Carol?" He barked as he walked into the enclosed space of the stone walls. He stopped in his tracks, crossbow dropping to his side.
"Fuck." Daryl hissed under his breath as he kicked up a flurry of leaves into the air. She was gone. He stomped back and forth, pacing a bit trying to get a grasp on himself. He had to calm down. He couldn't let this rile him up. He had to just assess what happened. He brought the heel of his hand to his forehead, before repeatedly thumping himself in the head.
Daryl inhaled through his nostrils and let out a strained exhale. He did this several times before he felt his anger ebb away. He stalked to the corners of the enclosed space looking around to see if he could find any indication of where Carol may have gone. He noticed a few walkers that had been piled up near the back where some may have tried entering at one point, taking observation of them. One was a particularly heavy set fellow and he felt himself grin sheepishly at it, knowing Carol had been the one to take the sonofabitch out all on her own.
That was when he caught it. The bright colored bead standing out amongst the fall colors of the leaves strewn about the ground. He took a knee and picked the bright blue bead up into his hand, fingers rolling it around his palm. It took him a moment to recall where he had seen the bead before, but that didn't matter to Daryl. The bead gave him a sense of relief knowing, hoping, that this had to be Carol's trail. He put it into his pocket and moved forward noticing another less smaller bead that had been dropped several yards away. The color of the beads were not hard to miss in this brush. He could see faint foot tracks trailing beneath the bead trail; the set of tracks being small in comparison to the other set he had stumbled across earlier.
"Carol." He breathed, picking the next bead up. Something was not quite right with the next bead. He removed the first from his pocket and examined the two together; one was shaped like a large oval and the other like a sphere. It took him a second before he understood what the beads belonged to: a Rosary.
Daryl's mouth pursed and he realized where he had seen the beads. The first night Sophia had gone missing, Carol had pulled a pretty blue beaded rosary from her pocket and prayed. He'd snorted at the gesture knowing that her prayer wouldn't be answered. In all the years he had prayed for his Daddy to get what was coming to him, his prayers had gone unanswered and he gave up believing in the Almighty. He never would have thought in all his years that some stupid rosary would be the one thing to bring him closer to finding Carol and Judith alive.
He nodded absently realizing that he would have to go on foot now. He let out a sigh and made his way back to his bike. He would just have to hope that when he came back it would still be where he left it. Daryl shouldered his crossbow wincing at the dull pain throbbing again and began rolling the Triumph off the road and up towards the stone enclosure. Better off the road than on it. Daryl gently ran a hand over the tank of the SS lightning logo, drumming his fingers along the black gloss. He set off in the direction Carol had gone, hoping the extra set of tracks he had seen were not following after. Hoping that those extra set of tracks weren't hunting her.
Carol breathed softly as she held Judith close to her chest, her back pressed up against a tree. She tried to keep her breaths steady and soft. There were others in the forest with her. She could hear the sounds of twigs snapping and loud rustling of leaves moving about the forest. These sounds were not the normal shuffling she had grown accustomed to hearing when a walker was approaching. These noises were hurried and deliberate, loud panting accompanying the heavy foot falls.
She was unsure if she wanted to move. She couldn't be certain that these people were friendly. Without someone with her, Carol was a perfect target for walkers and humans to easily overpower her and take advantage of. She gulped fully realizing just how weak and powerless she really was. She needed to get out of the forest and near the interstate immediately. The sooner she was able to regroup with her friends, the sooner she would be out of harms way. She was close. She knew this. Carol had passed the little creek that Sophia had been hiding in when she had been chased by walkers. Rick had described the place he had last left her in great detail and this was it. The area left a sour taste in her mouth when she had crept by knowing that this was where her little girl had found her demise.
Carol couldn't do that now. She couldn't dwell on the past. She had to get over that hill in her life and move on. She had someone else she had to protect and someone else relying on her to be strong. The rustling grew faint over time as she waited with bated breaths against the comfort of the tree. There were still glints of gold in the sky from what she could see, even so- dusk would come soon. She needed to get away as quickly as possible. Carol desperately needed to get to that interstate. There would be cars that she could hide in for the night and when the morning came she could go looting for formula and food.
Finding the nerve to finally move, she left the comfort of the trunk. Carol set off back in the direction she had been heading before seeking the tree for protection. She could feel Judith's eyes gaze up at her in wonderment as she pulled the Bowie knife up in defense. Carol tried mimicking the way Daryl stalked, trying to balance her baggage as she tried keeping an even steady pace crouched low. The creaky popping sounds of her knees made her wince at the noise, knowing full well that this couldn't be good for her joints. The fatigue of her stalking would add to her already exhausted body, but she pressed forward despite the pain. She couldn't "bitch out" as Daryl affectionately put it. She refused to.
Carol had always thought herself the burden of the group, not being able to do much beyond the menial housewife tasks such as laundry and cooking. Although those jobs were important, she wasn't particularly strong like Andrea who could fend for herself if attacked by a walker or fire a weapon relatively well. She had learned off and on when Rick and Daryl had time to teach the other women on the safety and usage of guns. She wasn't the best shot, but she had gotten better and Daryl had noticed, suggesting that she take guard duty shifts every once in a while.
He seemed to be her biggest fan. A smile tugged at her lips as she found a small burst of strength propel herself forward, her pace a little faster than before. Daryl was all the motivation she needed to push herself towards the interstate. It was only a little further. She could see the crest of the ravine through the thicket of trees up ahead. The purples and oranges swirled high above the horizon of the road and its oxidized rail that lingered like a victory line for Carol to reach. A swell of hope surged through her body as she began side-stepping up the ravine, taking careful attention to the precious bundle huddled against her chest.
"Only a little more," she murmured under her breath as she climbed to the interstate, fingers clasping tight to the rail as she pulled herself up and over the metal. A sigh and groan escaping Carol's chapped lips, a smile beaming forth.
She had made it.